The Lyon's Cub Caitlin (Lyon The Next Generation 1)

“I have change Mrs. Lyon, I can pick up that stuff for you… if it’s okay with you Mr. Lyon?” Still with the damn perfect manners. Now if I say no everyone’s gonna look at me as if I’m the one without reason, or common sense.

“Nonsense Todd, here take this.” She put some bills in his hand.

“You’ve got one hour.” I closed my ears to all the moans and groans and complaints. “One more word Caitiebear and you won’t be going anywhere.”

“Aw dad, tomorrow is Saturday, I can…” She had the good sense to walk her little teenage ass out of the room and leave well enough alone. I didn’t miss the fact that it was the boy who tugged on her hand and brought her to heel. My kid; this fuck!

Caitlin

I met my little sister at the door who beckoned for me to lean over so she could whisper in my ear. I thought she was going to say something equally as embarrassing as what she’d said to mom at the breakfast table a few days ago but she didn’t, she just wanted to know what I’d done with the paper she’d given me earlier.

I whispered the answer in her ear not thinking anything of it. I figured she just wanted to make sure it wouldn’t fall into the wrong hands, plus I was in too much of a hurry to get out of the house before daddy changed his mind to care.

Once outside Todd stopped me just as I was about to climb into the driver’s seat. “Babe, I’m not sure about this, this is a rental. Why don’t we wait until my Ranger gets here?”

“When will that be?”

“The company that’s delivering it said it should be here no later than noon tomorrow.”

“Nope, I wanna drive this one.” I gave him my winning smile and he sighed and opened the door of the Tahoe for me. I love the way he strapped me in then kissed me before walking around to the other side without any argument. I was so excited I was almost jumping out of my seat and peeled out of the driveway as soon as he was strapped in.

“Whoa, Andretti, slow it down. Does your dad let you drive like this?”

“Please, daddy barely lets me go above twenty-five even in a forty. The only time he lets me go faster is on the highway and that we’ve only done a couple of times. I think daddy thinks I’ll only be driving to school and back.”

“Hey where are we going? I thought we were going to the store for your mom?”

“Nope, we’ll do that on the way back. The store’s less than ten minutes from the house, we still have a whole thirty minutes to ourselves before we have to go there.”

I have no idea why I was suddenly feeling so daring. Because my boyfriend has been living out of town for the better part of my teenage life, I’ve never had the chance to be rebellious, never got up to any of the things my girlfriends whisper about. Tonight I feel like living dangerously.

“Let’s go have some ice cream. You remember that place right? It’s still there and I hear Friday nights are the busiest nights there. All the kids from school hang out there on the weekend.” And we’ve never been because daddy would never let us, not even when we doubled with Annalisa and her guy before.

“Fine, if that’s what you want to do.” I could feel his eyes on me as I drove us the five minutes to the ice cream parlor.

“What?”

“You’re beautiful.” The smile came from my heart and warmed my cheeks.

I parked the truck in the lot that was already packed. Some of the vehicles looked familiar and I couldn’t wait to walk in with my boyfriend, who I was sure had all the other guys here beat by a mile. “Wait!” He got out and came around to help me down and we walked together hand in hand to the entrance.

The night felt magical, not too warm, as it has been the past few evenings, with a blanket of stars in the dark blue sky and a three quarter moon that seemed to follow our footsteps. There was a feeling of fullness in my chest that I’d never felt before and my hand tingled where he held it.

And when he stopped just outside the door and looked down at me with that special light in his eyes, I knew he felt it too. When he leaned down and our lips came together, the evening that had barely just begun was complete.

“I love you!” I’m my father’s daughter. I never hold back and am never afraid to say what I feel. That’s why it was so easy for me to give him the words without reservation.